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Alpha Flight Vol 2 1
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** Supporting Characters: * * * Antagonists: * ** ** ** ** ** ** * ** Tim ** Gary Other Characters: * * * * * ** Doctor Krypt ** Edwin * * Carl. Puck's homeless friend. * Mrs. Markley. Puck's friend and neighbor. * Janet. Heather's co-worker at the flower shop. * * Unknown terrorist, in support of Quebec independence. * * * * * * * * * * Races and Species: * * * * Locations: * ** *** **** Puck's apartment. **** "A Cut Above". Flower shop, where Heather McNeil Hudson works as a florist. **** "Café Luna". A café where Eugene and Heather meet for a conversation. *** **** ** *** Dorion. **** Nascent Observatories. ** *** ** Border checkpoint, at the borders of Canada and the United States. * ** *** **** ***** **** * Items: * ** Wolverine's claws * * Vehicles: * | Notes = * First issue (not counting Alpha Flight Vol 2 #-1) of Alpha Flight Vol 2. *According to this issue, when part of Department H, Wolverine was given a codename based on the Greek alphabet as Weapon X or "Chi". The letter "X" in the Greek alphabet is called "chi" and is written exactly like the "X" (ex) of the English alphabet. The use of the Greek Alphabet makes sense for Department H-related codenames. The Department has connections to teams named after letters of the Greek alphabet: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Omega. *According to this issue, James Hudson's astrological symbol is Sagittarius. This indicates Hudson was born under this sign of the zodiac, sometime between November 21 and December 21. *According to this issue, Heather McNeil Hudson's astrological symbol is Virgo. This indicates Heather was born under this sign of the zodiac, sometime between August 22 and September 22. *According to this issue, Eugene Milton Judd's astrological symbol is Capricorn. This indicates Eugene was born under this sign of the zodiac, sometime December 21 and January 19. *According to this issue (August, 1997), Eugene Judd's "one true love" is Heather McNeil Hudson. But he has kept his feelings secret, because he fears that Heather can not love a man of his stunted height. *According to this issue, the Department H's official date of inception is July 2. If bureaucratic organizations had astrological signs, its sign would be cancer. This indicates the Department was created under this sign of the zodiac, sometime between June 20 and July 22. *According to this issue, Jeremy Clarke is not the real name of the General. Nobody except Clarke himself knows his real name, his date of birth, his political affiliation, or his closest blood relative. It is known that he convinced his superiors in the Canadian Parliament that Canada should become a major player in the superhero arms race, but how he managed that is also unknown. *According to this issue, Madison Jeffries' astrological symbol is Gemini. This indicates Madison was born under this sign of the zodiac, sometime between May 20 and June 20. *According to this issue, Jared Corbo's astrological symbol is Leo. This indicates Jared was born under this sign of the zodiac, sometime between July 22 and August 22. *According to this issue, Adrian Corbo's astrological symbol is Pisces. This indicates Adrian was born under this sign of the zodiac, sometime between February 8 and March 20. *According to this issue, Arlette Truffaut's astrological symbol is Aquarius. This indicates Arlette was born under this sign of the zodiac, sometime between January 19 and February 18. *According to this issue, this version of Scorpio was not always a villain. He was once somebody else, and some would say he was a hero. He was a noble sole with great aspirations who has by this time fallen very far. His past identity was a closely kept secret. Despite this hint of his past, his identity was never revealed. *The various incarnations of the Zodiac team typically consist of 12 members. This issue clarifies that Scorpio only has 4 recruits in his new team (Pisces, SagittariusTaurus, and Virgo) and is in search for other 7 recruits. The narration also points that if these 4 knew the full details of his plan, they would leave the team. *An important plot point of the issue is that the previous incarnation of Alpha Flight has been disbanded by Department H for quite a while. This new version of the team has been formed by the Department to replace the old one. This is in part a reference to the events of Alpha Flight Vol 1 130 (March, 1994). In that issue, General Jeremy Clarke himself announced that the government has decided to disband the team, following public concerns about super-powered individuals. The original plan was to maintain former Alpha Flight members in advisory positions for the government, but these members did not seem to like the idea. In the years between the two issues, several former members of Alpha Flight and associates have been featured in various roles in other series. In some cases, they were still affiliated with Department H. However, other members seemed to disappear completely. *The issue has a third-person narration which offers additional information on various characters and scenes. Several parts of this narration have an astrological theme and analyze how the personalities of the characters match their astrological signs. The narration ends on the note that the issue takes place on Friday, June 13, and that this is an unlucky day for horoscopes. *Despite scenes attesting to the contrary, the issue features 6 new members of Alpha Flight. They are Flex, Guardian, Manbot, Murmur, Radius, and Sasquatch. Only Madison Jeffries, Puck, and Vindicator are veteran members, and Madison leaves the team in this issue. *The origin story of the teenaged Guardian offered in this issue was eventually revealed to be false. He is a clone of the original James Hudson, who is still alive. The two Hudsons would eventually join forces, until the death of the clone. *The Sasquatch introduced in this issue is not Walter Langkowski, and not human at all. In their search for Walter, the Department located and recruited an actual sasquatch or bigfoot. He is effectively a humanoid animal and does not have human intellect. *Flex, Murmur, and Radius are not the first Marvel characters with these codenames. The original Flex was a non-superpowered villain from Iron Man Vol 1 221 (August, 1987). The original Murmur was a member of the Hellbent race and first appeared in Marc Spector: Moon Knight Vol 1 50 (May, 1993). A second Murmur was Allan Rennie of the Hellions, who first appeared in Generation X Vol 1 12 (February, 1996). The original Radius is Ralph Hutchins and first appeared in Savage She-Hulk Vol 1 6 (July, 1980). Beyond the shared codenames, the characters have no known relation to each other. *All members of this Zodiac are new characters and have no known connections to other incarnations of their identities. This issue considers them replacements of the Zodiac Cartel, a long-running villain team. The Zodiac Cartel debuted as foes of the Avengers in Avengers Vol 1 72 (January, 1970). With various changes in membership they continued appearing until killed by a rival Zodiac team in West Coast Avengers Vol 2 26 (November, 1987). The apparent last survivor Taurus was killed in combat with Moon Knight in West Coast Avengers Vol 2 29 (February, 1988). The Libra of the Zodiac Cartel eventually resurfaced alive, but he has largely retired from action. *Despite repeated mentions to at least one past incarnation of the Zodiac, this issue makes no apparent reference to the LMD version of the Zodiac. Originally debuting in Defenders Vol 1 49 (July, 1977), they served as a rival Zodiac for quite a while and went on to kill and replace the Zodiac Cartel. They were deactivated in West Coast Avengers Vol 2 28 (January, 1988) and have yet to resurface. *The epilogue makes clear that this incarnation of the Zodiac was working for Department H throughout the issue and Alpha Flight had been misinformed about their actions and intentions. However, the extent of the misinformation is unclear. The chemical weapons that they supposedly had were only "discovered" and deactivated by Manbot, a spy for the Department. The only deaths caused by them, the supposed chemical strike at Port Radium, happened off-panel. The deaths are actually mentioned only by General Jeremy Clarke of the Department, who is clearly not a reliable source. *The lost member of the Zodiac, Virgo, is not really dead or hurt yet. She resurfaces in Alpha Flight Vol 2 5 (December, 1997), lost in Paris. *Scorpio seems very protective of Virgo in this issue, and does not trust the rest of the Zodiac with her safety. A fan theory on the subject is that Scorpio is in love with her, but this is not clearly stated in the issue. *Neither Scorpio, nor Virgo display any super-powers in this issue. They use weapons and other technological devices in battle. *It is not clear if Pisces, with her liquid form, is human. At least she does not seem to consider herself human. When attacking Guardian, Pisces calls him a "mammal". Which suggests she does not consider herself a mammal either. *Sagittarius has the form of a Centaur from Greek legend. It is not clear if this is his true form, a disguise, or a mutation of some kind. He might not be human. *Taurus has the form of a humanoid bull. He resembles the Minotaur of Greek legend. It is not clear if this is his true form, a disguise, or a mutation of some kind. He might not be human. *Ecliptic does not take part in the battle and does not seem to be considered an actual member of the Zodiac. However, she seems to act as Scorpio's trusted advisor and seems to be able to influence his decisions more than anyone else. In effect, she may be the "power behind the throne" in this organization, the de facto leader. *The civilian identities of this version of the Zodiac were never revealed and its characters (except one) were killed in Weapon X Vol 2 1 (November, 2002). Like most characters introduced in this volume of Alpha Flight, they remain mysterious and underused. *The flashback involving a feral Wolverine may be partly accurate or a complete fabrication. It is part of the memories and nightmares of the new Guardian, which (like him) were mostly created by the Department H. However, there is no issue clearly discounting this flashback. Like a number of other flashbacks and past stories involving Wolverine, it is part of a rather complex and often contradictory character history. *The nightmare of Heather McNeil Hudson where she witnesses the death of her husband James Hudson (and has a role in causing it) is based on a memory. This is a traumatic scene from Alpha Flight Vol 1 12 (July, 1984). The death caused her to join Alpha Flight to replace him and brought several changes to her characterization. James returned years later, as a cyborg. *That Puck is in love with Heather McNeil Hudson has been hinted before. However, this is a one-sided attraction, as Heather is usually involved with other men of Alpha Flight. *The issue mentions that the Avengers and Fantastic Four have gone missing and that the Earth now lacks heroes. This in part a reference to the events of Onslaught Marvel Universe Vol 1 1 (October, 1996), where most of the active rosters of the two teams apparently sacrifice their lives to stop Onslaught. But there were no corpses left behind. The "missing" and presumed dead characters of the issue were only 18 (Bruce Banner (separated from the Hulk), Black Panther, Captain America, Crystal, Dr. Doom, Falcon, Giant Man, Hawkeye, Human Torch, Invisible Woman, Iron Man, Mister Fantastic, Namor, Scarlet Witch, Thing, Thor, Vision, and Wasp). There were several surviving Avengers but the team disbanded following the event and several changes took place due to the lack of established heroes. *There is a somewhat awkward moment in this issue when Puck asks who can train, organize and lead the new Alpha Flight. He is standing right next to Vindicator, the longest-serving leader of the team, but apparently fails to even consider her as a candidate. *Madison Jeffries apparently no longer controls the Box armor or uses the Box identity, thought it is never stated why. *There is a contradiction in the claim that the Department H used all the former members of Alpha Flight they could locate. They managed to recruit Madison Jeffries, but not his wife Diamond Lil, who simply sends her regards. Lil herself is a long-serving member of the Flight. *When listing veteran members of Alpha Flight that were apparently not contacted by Department H, Vindicator only mentions Aurora, Northstar, and Wild Child. While all reasonable choices, these are far from the only missing veteran members of the Flight. *The original suit of Vindicator was a version of the Guardian's Battle-suit with electromagnetic powers. The geothermal suit introduced in this issue has distinctive design, colors, and powers. It became strongly associated with the character and would be reused in subsequent appearances of Heather for decades. *The mysterious man meeting with Scorpio at the epilogue is Director X, the supposed secret head of Department H. He made a few minor appearances and then was forgotten about. His civilian identity was never revealed. *The Marvel Chronology Project, which tracks character appearances, has the following information about the characters of this issue: **Box/Madison Jeffries' previous chronological appearance is in Alpha Flight Vol 1 130 (March, 1994). His next chronological appearance is in Alpha Flight Vol 2 12 (July, 1998). **General Jeremy Clarke previous chronological appearances are a full appearance in Northstar Vol 1 1 (April, 1994) and a flashback in Alpha Flight Vol 2 19 (February, 1999). He becomes a regular character of this series. **Puck's previous chronological appearance is in Sabretooth Back to Nature Vol 1 1 (January, 1998). He becomes a regular character of this series. **Sunfire's previous chronological appearance is in Wolverine Annual Vol 2 1996 (October, 1996). He becomes a regular character of this series. **Vindicator's previous chronological appearance is in Marvel Fanfare Vol 2 2 (October, 1996). She becomes a regular character of this series. **The flashback appearance of Gary Cody takes place between the second (origin) story of Alpha Flight Vol 1 10 (May, 1984) and a flashback in Alpha Flight Vol 1 17 (December, 1984). His next appearance following this is X-Men Vol 1 109 (February, 1978). **The flashback appearance of Weapon Alpha takes place between a flashback in Alpha Flight Vol 1 53 (December, 1987) and a flashback in Alpha Flight Vol 1 17 (December, 1984). **The flashback appearance of Wolverine takes place between a flashback in Alpha Flight Vol 1 53 (December, 1987) and a flashback scene in Wolverine: Origins Vol 1 28 (November, 2008). | Trivia = | Recommended = | Links = * plot summary at uncannyxmen.net }}